survival

Does jazz really live at the Lincoln Centre? Is the way of the jazz warrior really from music school to there? Perhaps Whiplash’s original conception described a classical music prodigy, navigating a musical realm wherein the concept of genius is much

Does jazz really live at the Lincoln Centre? Is the way of the jazz warrior really from music school to there? Perhaps Whiplash’s original conception described a classical music prodigy, navigating a musical realm wherein the concept of genius is much

How did this happen? Its like someone, while absently pondering mash-ups of horror sub-genres, put The Ring’s pass-it-on curse next to Halloween’s teenage body count and stumbled upon a Tutankhamun’s tomb of treasures. It Follows‘s simple premise of sexually transmitted

How did this happen? Its like someone, while absently pondering mash-ups of horror sub-genres, put The Ring’s pass-it-on curse next to Halloween’s teenage body count and stumbled upon a Tutankhamun’s tomb of treasures. It Follows‘s simple premise of sexually transmitted

A more-than-you-can-eat pizza-slice of life, hot from the florid state – more specifically Orlando. It’s a short walk from Disneyland but a long, alligator-infested way downstream. The Florida Project features one of the most striking child performances in recent memory

A more-than-you-can-eat pizza-slice of life, hot from the florid state – more specifically Orlando. It’s a short walk from Disneyland but a long, alligator-infested way downstream. The Florida Project features one of the most striking child performances in recent memory

The vaguely familiar Frank Grillo makes a classy and economical pitch at booting a Stallone/Van-Damme/Strachan tough-guy franchise. Director-writer Jeremy Rush has mashed Locke with Driver. As a car-chase movie, like nearly every car-chase movie other than Bullitt, it’s a fail. It

The vaguely familiar Frank Grillo makes a classy and economical pitch at booting a Stallone/Van-Damme/Strachan tough-guy franchise. Director-writer Jeremy Rush has mashed Locke with Driver. As a car-chase movie, like nearly every car-chase movie other than Bullitt, it’s a fail. It

Deckhard is back, Hampton Fancher is back, the rain is back, as is some of the neon, albeit faded behind some kind of airborne filth with lumps in it. Blade Runner in the eighties was a world crippled and depressed

Deckhard is back, Hampton Fancher is back, the rain is back, as is some of the neon, albeit faded behind some kind of airborne filth with lumps in it. Blade Runner in the eighties was a world crippled and depressed

As has been observed before regarding Prometheus, Alien: Covenant is trying to build conceptual sci-fi on the burial grounds of what began as a simple, stylish, terrifying horror story. This alleged prequel to the Alien saga, now in its second

As has been observed before regarding Prometheus, Alien: Covenant is trying to build conceptual sci-fi on the burial grounds of what began as a simple, stylish, terrifying horror story. This alleged prequel to the Alien saga, now in its second

Rogue One feels like a heroine’s journey has been extracted from something originally conceived for an ensemble cast, leaving us with not quite enough of either. There are too many characters, talking so much about what they’re doing we don’t know what they’re doing.

Rogue One feels like a heroine’s journey has been extracted from something originally conceived for an ensemble cast, leaving us with not quite enough of either. There are too many characters, talking so much about what they’re doing we don’t know what they’re doing.

Michael “high concept” Crichton directs the film of his own screenplay (no novel this time). It becomes very clear where the idea for The Terminator came from as we watch Yuul Brynner reincarnate his The Magnificent Seven character in the form

Michael “high concept” Crichton directs the film of his own screenplay (no novel this time). It becomes very clear where the idea for The Terminator came from as we watch Yuul Brynner reincarnate his The Magnificent Seven character in the form

Drop-out survivalists are forced to re-enter mainstream society when a tragedy strikes. They’re like a family of doomsday preppers with a positive, if fortress, mentality and leanings toward Mao and Chomsky rather than the NRA (was this written in the 70s?). The

Drop-out survivalists are forced to re-enter mainstream society when a tragedy strikes. They’re like a family of doomsday preppers with a positive, if fortress, mentality and leanings toward Mao and Chomsky rather than the NRA (was this written in the 70s?). The

Screenwriters can be typecast, just like actors. With Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin cements his reputation as the go-to guy for stories about brilliant young men with personality issues – flawed, obnoxious but dazzling wunderkinds who could, might, or in Jobs’s case actually did

Screenwriters can be typecast, just like actors. With Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin cements his reputation as the go-to guy for stories about brilliant young men with personality issues – flawed, obnoxious but dazzling wunderkinds who could, might, or in Jobs’s case actually did

As Sicario overplays its quest to underplay itself, we arrive at a confused portrait of profound dysfunction. That may be an appropriate angle to take on another of America’s unwinnable wars (in this case the drugs and border war with Mexico),

As Sicario overplays its quest to underplay itself, we arrive at a confused portrait of profound dysfunction. That may be an appropriate angle to take on another of America’s unwinnable wars (in this case the drugs and border war with Mexico),

For the first ten minutes or so there is nagging despair, even mourning. It feels like an awkward Star Wars themed high school reunion in a room littered with lifeless artefacts, with Disney and JJ Abrams strutting around bragging “lookit all

For the first ten minutes or so there is nagging despair, even mourning. It feels like an awkward Star Wars themed high school reunion in a room littered with lifeless artefacts, with Disney and JJ Abrams strutting around bragging “lookit all

Conflict being the essence of drama and all that, it’s not easy to pull an entertainment out of a pleasant scenario, unless it’s one under threat. In this case the utopian promise of Tomorrowland is in danger of never arriving. We’re presented with a rampant

Conflict being the essence of drama and all that, it’s not easy to pull an entertainment out of a pleasant scenario, unless it’s one under threat. In this case the utopian promise of Tomorrowland is in danger of never arriving. We’re presented with a rampant

Max is back. The story hits the road early and stays there. The elevator pitch might be “Ellen Ripley vs Boko Haram on wheels”, with Max as the benevolent Michael Biehn or Lance Henriksen character. Since the second instalment the

Max is back. The story hits the road early and stays there. The elevator pitch might be “Ellen Ripley vs Boko Haram on wheels”, with Max as the benevolent Michael Biehn or Lance Henriksen character. Since the second instalment the

Things are poised for the worst when parents divorce, but do not unfold via the expected trajectory – unless of course you’ve read the Thomas Mann novel upon which this tragi-redemption tale is based. Initially appearing to lack the requisite gravity

Things are poised for the worst when parents divorce, but do not unfold via the expected trajectory – unless of course you’ve read the Thomas Mann novel upon which this tragi-redemption tale is based. Initially appearing to lack the requisite gravity

The perenniality of the vampire genre derives from its capacity for reinvention. Its form mimics its content in similar fashion to the zombie genre, each transcending death. In Only Lovers Left Alive, the immortality of Jarmusch’s vampire couple is a perfect foil

The perenniality of the vampire genre derives from its capacity for reinvention. Its form mimics its content in similar fashion to the zombie genre, each transcending death. In Only Lovers Left Alive, the immortality of Jarmusch’s vampire couple is a perfect foil

The Coens tell a story of the man who would not be Bob Dylan with such relentless unapologetic deflation that it actually feels like something out of the end of the sixties, like Midnight Cowboy or Medium Cool or Easy Rider (all

The Coens tell a story of the man who would not be Bob Dylan with such relentless unapologetic deflation that it actually feels like something out of the end of the sixties, like Midnight Cowboy or Medium Cool or Easy Rider (all

God gets a bad rap in Noah, as Darren Aronofsky tries to construe a story that makes no physical, psychological or moral sense. A brood of hapless humans is disgorged out onto what looks like a barren coalfield with no recourse

God gets a bad rap in Noah, as Darren Aronofsky tries to construe a story that makes no physical, psychological or moral sense. A brood of hapless humans is disgorged out onto what looks like a barren coalfield with no recourse

An art movie, a drug movie, a Mick Jagger acting debut, Nicolas Roeg’s directing debut, a late, post-swinging 60’s bohemian manifesto, but underpinning all that one of the best British gangster flicks around. It features a foulmouthed, thuggish, head kicking

An art movie, a drug movie, a Mick Jagger acting debut, Nicolas Roeg’s directing debut, a late, post-swinging 60’s bohemian manifesto, but underpinning all that one of the best British gangster flicks around. It features a foulmouthed, thuggish, head kicking

This unabashedly pro-nuclear documentary makes a good case, or rather an already well established case, that we need to find, by yesterday, a viable alternative to fossil fuels given the current dangers to human survival presented by combustion power. The

This unabashedly pro-nuclear documentary makes a good case, or rather an already well established case, that we need to find, by yesterday, a viable alternative to fossil fuels given the current dangers to human survival presented by combustion power. The